Bar Mitzvah Speech

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To have all my family and friends here is very special to me.

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I have spent hours thinking about what to say today, what my Torah parshah talks about, what it means to me, and how it’s teaching is important for the world today.

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My Torah parshah is called Pinchas.

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It talks about many different things.

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For example, it starts out telling the story of Pinchas.

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He was the grandson of Aaron, and he was rewarded for executing sinners.

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It also lists the names of the families in all of the Tribes and talks about some laws giving women inheritance rights.

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My maftir talks about the special parts of the service in the Temple dealing with one of my favorite holidays, Sukkot.

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Sukkot is a harvest festival and my parshah describes the offerings required for that holiday.

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My haftarah comes from Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet who warned the Jewish people that unless they followed Adonay’s commandments, ruin would come to them.

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Talking to Rabbi Grossman about my parshah, we focused on the Temple sacrifices.

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A lot of people think animals were killed and other offerings burned and wasted.

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But, people now know that the offerings given by each person were actually later given to the poor and sick.

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People used to bring in a part of what they produced – if you were a shepherd, you brought in sheep; if you grew crops, you brought in part of your harvest.

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This was really the first organized way to help people who were struggling to survive.

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Not too many of us grow crops or tend sheep anymore, so how does this parshah apply to us?

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We still have the responsibility to help the poor and the sick – as Jews we are commanded to do this.

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We must take what we know how to do and use that to help people.

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We must take part of what we earn and our time to help people.

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For my bar mitzvah project, I used something I know, sign language, and with the Rabbi’s help, put down on paper something that has not been done before – a sign language teaching guide for some of the prayers we use everyday in Judaism.

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I plan to post some of them on the web and share them with our Temple.

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Temple Beth Solomon for the Deaf in Los Angeles has also asked me to share my project with them.

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I hope this guide will help other Deaf people connect with Judaism more easily.

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In addition, Rabbi Grossman and I plan to go to the Jewish Deaf Conference being held in Washington, D.C. next year where I will have the opportunity to lead services.

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Talking with my parents about my parshah, we talked about Pinchas and what was happening to the Jewish people during that time in history.

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Mom and Dad felt that the parshah talked about the importance of following commandments.

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I think that no matter which parshah I would have read, my Mom and Dad would have found a way for it to mean that following rules are important.

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But, they’re right of course.

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If the Jewish people don’t follow the commandments, bad things happen to them, to their families, to their communities, and to their nation.

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When I think about what my parshah means to me, I remember how it tells about the daily offerings in the Temple.

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These services were performed everyday, always, consistently.

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Being consistent is powerful.

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When I first looked at the amount of work it would take to become a bar mitzvah – I said I couldn’t do it.

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But everyday I worked on it.

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I never gave up.

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That is what my parshah says to me: Be consistent, do the right things everyday and powerful things can happen.

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I want to thank everyone for coming today.

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I especially want to thank the Rabbi for giving me something no one in my family ever experienced: fun while studying Torah.

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Thank you for teaching me in a language that I can understand.

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I want to thank the Hazzan for giving me a “crash course”.

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Now I can say “I’ve got Rhythm!”

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Thanks to David Rosner, my tutor, who’s excitement for Judaism rubbed off on me.

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I want to thank my mom and dad for taking me to Hebrew lessons, helping me practice and helping with my projects.

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Thank you brother Aaron for practicing V’shamru with me.

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And thanks to everyone who helped to make the service so beautiful.

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Finally, I’d like to read a poem written by a deaf Rabbi and friend of Rabbi Grossman’s.

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I’m your deaf child.
Listen!
I have things to tell you.
Listen!

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My voice is not like yours, but –
I see! I touch! I think! I feel!

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I’m sure my heart is much like yours.
Let me tell you.

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Take time.
Listen!

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I will tell you what I touch
And I will tell you what I think.

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If you listen to these things, then—
I’ll tell you the things of my heart.

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Take time.
Make time.
Listen!
Listen!

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